Assessing the Effectiveness and Implementation of Psychosocial Assessment of Adolescents and Young Adults in Emergency Departments

A well-regarded psychosocial assessment for adolescents and young adults (12 - 25 years) is the HEEADSSS assessment. The HEEADSSS captures patient strengths and risks relevant to apects of their life including Home, Education and Employment, Eating and Exercise, Activities, Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality and Gender, Suicide, Depression and Self-harm, and Safety. A digital self-assessment version of the HEEADSSS (the eHEEADSSS) has recently been developed and implemented at the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network. Hosted on the Tickit® digital platform, the eHEEADSSS enables clinicians to conduct recommended psychosocial assessments, with results integrating into hospital Electronic Medical Records systems. The e-HEEADSSS features a grade-4 literacy level and allows young people to complete a self-assessment via a digital device (e.g. smartphone, tablet) with privacy and at their own pace. A summary report of their responses to the assessment are uploaded and available to clinicians in real-time in a secure password-protected application available via the internet. On average, the eHEEADSSS takes a young person less than 15 minutes to complete. Pilot research at the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network indicates that the eHEEADSSS is more sensitive and acceptable to young people than the traditional HEEADSSS interview. The eHEEADSSS will now be implemented within the Emergency Departments of three new Hospitals outside of the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network. The research project will use the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) framework to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of this change. This will involve quantitative analyses of 24-months of routine administrative data from the new Hospital sites. The administrative data to be analysed will include data from the eHEEADSSS assessments and data from the Hospital Electronic Medical Records systems. Participant consent will be waived for the use of this administrative data. The eHEEADSSS will be implemented within these new sites regardless of the commencement of this study.